


A night full of stars

by Foreign



Category: Sex Education (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23616781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foreign/pseuds/Foreign
Summary: Maeve watches as the social workers, whom she called, takes her mother and sister. Unable to enter the house, she goes to the junkyard, and an unexpected couple finds her there.slight Maeve/Aimee, can be seen as friendship.warning - a lot of curses, only a little of Adam/Eric
Relationships: Aimee Gibbs & Maeve Wiley, Aimee Gibbs/Maeve Wiley, Eric Effiong/Adam Groff
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	A night full of stars

**Author's Note:**

> The premiere of season 3 will be in a year or two, and I'm pretty sure it won't show how Maeve coped with her family loss anyway. So I decided to write something myself. I love the ship Maeve/Aimee, so I got it involved in history, but it can be seen as friendship.
> 
> My main language isn't English, so sorry for any mistakes! However, I think I haven't committed many of them!

Maeve took a deep, trembling breath as she watched welfare and police leave from outside her house, and with them, her sister and Erin. She saw a small blonde head looking out the back windows, waving an even smaller hand towards her. Maeve waved, trying to force herself to stop the tears, thus bending her face in some strange grimace. The cars disappeared behind the bend a while later.

She lowered her hand and then she noticed her whole body shaking. She took a deep breath again to calm down. She turned her head towards her house, involuntarily noticing how her neighbours looked at her and whisper some merciful or contemptible statements among themselves. She swallowed her saliva, frightened.

Has she just sold her mother to social security? God, she has just sold her mother to social security.

“Maeve...” She heard a hesitant voice. She quickly turned her head and waved her hand carelessly, trying to force some kind of smile on her face. She couldn't let others feel sorry for her. 

It was her decision after all. _She_ was the one who wanted to destroy this, already dysfunctional, family. 

“It's okay, Cynthia.” She whispered in a treacherously weeping tone. She clenched both her fists and almost imperceptibly struck them on her thighs. “It's okay, Cynthia.” She repeated it more confidently, but still sticking her eyes into the ground. She couldn't look this woman in the face now, ultimately, a few hours ago she told her that her mother was finally looking after her.

Liar. Fucking liar. 

“If you need anything-“

“What do I need?” Jeffrey interrupted her as he approached them. Maeve smiled gently, stepping back.

“Not you, wanker!” The blonde hissed, turning herself to face him. “Can you finally clean your _damn_ ears!? We have a real problem here!”

When Cynthia turned around again to tell her something else, Maeve was already behind one of the little 'houses'. She walked fast, energetically, with her hands in her pockets. She didn't want to enter her house, not now that she was barely looking at random people, let alone items belonging to her mother and sister.

She didn’t know where she was going until she found herself on one of the streets in the forest that led to the centre of the small town. She stood in the middle of the road, surrounded by trees. It was cool, but not cold, the wind was moving the tree leaves, and hundreds of white stars were shining in the clear blue sky.

She swallowed her saliva as she looked up dully, and tears appeared in her eyes even though she wasn't thinking about anything. At least she could have told herself that it was because of a beautiful sight, not because of one of the biggest mistakes she made. Although, deep down, she knew she did a good thing.

But she was afraid to admit even to herself that what she did was good. How, for God's sake, was it good to send social workers to your own mother, who really was trying, after all?

She clenched her fists again and sighed into the ether, closing her eyes. For a short while, she just wanted some driver not to notice her and hit her, so she could stop thinking. But the street remained empty and quiet. 

Her fucking family. She destroyed her fucking _family_. She destroyed something she had regained after many years of solitude. And she did it almost without thinking about it.

She turned on her heel and decided to go to the junkyard. She didn't want to sneak into her friend's house in the middle of the night, although she knew that Aimee would have taken her in, probably a bit surprised and confused, but with her arms open. Aimee was important to her, even damn important – she was one of the few people who didn't see her as a bitch. Only recently she has started talking to other girls, and Otis, Erik, and Jackson, but she was one hundred percent sure that all these people didn't like her, or considered her as, at least, a little fucked up.

She didn't blame them for that. It wasn't their fault she became a cockbiter.

So, peeking for an hour on the phone, which clearly indicated the third forty-two in the morning, she directed her steps to the junkyard. Although her hands were clenched in her fists and hidden in her jacket pockets, these were still shaking. Her breath was shallow, and no matter how hard she tried to stop thinking about anything, her mother's furious words were reflected in her head.

_“I will never forgive you! Never!”_

She bit her lip so hard that it burst, thus releasing not only the hissing full of pain but also the weeping that she was trying so hard to contain. She stood in the middle of the road again and bent in half, no longer stopping crying in any way. Not many seconds later, tears flooded her cheeks as she crouched on the concrete, covering her face with her hands.

Why did her life have to be such a failure?

Maeve, against all appearances, often cried, but maybe not so hard. It happened sometimes even a few times a week, honestly. But she always did it at home, in bed, in the middle of the night – when she was sure no one would text her anymore or come to her house door. She always wanted to have someone she could hug, and when she started thinking about it, she cried more and more until the pillow, which nearly suffocated her, finally calmed her down.

She stuck her fingers in her brown hair and started to jerk them out of powerlessness, yelling at herself in her thoughts and crying so loudly that the whole neighbourhood could hear her (it's a shame she was in the middle of the forest). She was sitting on the street for the next minutes, trying to calm down, and finally getting up. She leaned to the side, but she quickly caught her balance. She drew refreshing air in her lungs and looked at the phone display again. Fourth fourteen.

Had she really been wandering around for a few hours? Idiot.

She quickly headed for the junkyard, being sure to find some musty mattress or an old car, not yet broken down, in which she could lie down. Just a few days ago, when she was spending the night at the junkyard with other girls trying to improve Aimee's mood, she saw some good hiding places where no drunken teenagers were likely to lurk.

It was **Thursday** , for God's sake. No one should be drunk. 

It took another half an hour before she got there. Peeking again at the sky, she thought it was a too beautiful night to hide somewhere. Besides she wouldn't be able to sleep. Tomorrow she won't go to school at most, she could skip one day, right? 

No, she couldn't. Her future depended on it. Nobody would give her class notes (Nobody except Aimee, but she took only two lessons with her, and also she doubted the authenticity of the things her friend wrote down in her notebooks) (Although she always thought it was sweet when Aimee suddenly interrupted her notes to start drawing some cute animals or cupcakes and cakes. She didn't mind when the blonde asked her for help in various subjects. She never refused her.)

It didn't take her long to get to the roof of some old bus. From here she had a wonderful view of the forest, the junkyard and the sky, which tonight really pampered her. Maybe this is how the world was trying to compensate for her life? Nice views? She snorted. 

Only a few minutes later she began to cry uncontrollably. Fucking _views_ , fucking _school_ , fucking _addictions_. Fucking _drugs_ , fucking _Otis_ , fucking _**world.**_

To be completely honest with herself, the only good things in her life were those innocent childhood memories with her brother, when she didn't know what was really going on, a few moments with Erik and Otis, who, despite their stupidity, were somehow able to make her feel good with them, Quizheads (but it was really hard for her to admit), Aimee of course, books, Mrs. Sands and those hellish sights she had seen all her life. Jackson was great for a long time, too, but of course, she must have fucked something up. Why does she always have to do that?

“Maeve?”

When she heard a male voice, it paralyzed her. Her breath stopped, her hands continued to cover her wet face. The heart started to beat faster and more painfully, but tears constantly flowed out of her enlarged, frightened eyes. 

_“I will never forgive you! Never!”_

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

She cursed quietly, unable to stop the subsequent spasms that shake her body with impunity. With her shaking hands, she wiped her face quickly so as to at least keep appearances of appearances and took a deep breath, which gave so much as nothing, because she broke again shortly afterward.

“Maeve, we're coming to you!” Eric shouted.

We? Who the fuck else was there? Who was Effiong walking around the junkyard with at five in the morning?

Maeve only had thirty seconds to use her sleeve to wipe tears from her face, fix her hair so it wouldn't look so bad, and calm her breathing. None of this went well. During these thirty seconds, she only managed to look in horror towards the sounds of climbing.

Eric approached her unsure, followed by another person. After steps that seemed pretty uncertain but definitely heavier, it could have been his boyfriend, Rajesh, yes? She turned more towards them and with a really big astonishment, that was surely visible on her face, she noticed Adam looking hesitantly down.

The brunette swallowed her saliva feeling probably as awkward as Adam himself, who was standing with his hands in his pocket. Eric snorted gently at her and waved his hands, giving her a clear sign to move. Maeve did it with a growing desire to escape. But, if she ran away, would that do anything? Eric would tell Otis about this incident, Otis would, probably being completely unknowingly, tell someone, and the whole Moordale would know in two days. And Adam? She didn't know what he was capable of, but she probably saw him calm, sad and uncomfortable for the first time in her life - in short, he had emotions other than anger and seriousness on his face for the first time, not counting the misdeed with his father at the last ball.

Maeve's never had a good relationship with this Groff, like the rest of them, anyway. When Adam was Aimee's boyfriend, they barely looked at each other, actually barely met each other – in those days, Aimee was still hiding the fact that she was hanging out with her so often. Aimee tried to convince her that Adam was not so bad for almost the entire duration of her relationship. But Maeve couldn't believe it. Adam was… Adam. 

Eric wiped the dirty roof of the bus with his hand and sat down, immediately patting the place next to him, somehow making Adam sit down with them. Maeve looked at them in disbelief, for a moment forgetting everything that happened today. What the fuck? Didn't Adam bully Erik just last year?

They were sitting for a while in a strange silence. Maeve with her legs crossed, playing with her shaking fingers and staring straight in the sky, trying to stop the next thoughts and tears pressing down on her eyes. Adam with dangling legs, leaning on his hands from the back also staring at the stars, apparently thinking hard about something, and Eric watched alternately at her and Groff, tapping his fingers nervously on the vehicle roof.

Maeve took a trembling breath knowing that no one was going to speak in the near future. Adam was far away in his thoughts, and Eric was probably too afraid that whatever he said would make Maeve or Groff go away. That's why the brunette swallowed her saliva and, without breaking eye contact with the stars, she muttered.

“What-What’s u-up with the two of you?” She clenched her fists as soon as her voice broke. 

She rubbed her face awkwardly, wiping away her tears.

She knew it wasn't a normal Maeve question, if there was a damn thing like _normal_ and _Maeve_ in one sentence, but she couldn't help it. No matter how hard she tries now, she can neither normalize her breath nor make her hands stop shaking. Eric quickly cast her a gaze that she wasn't going to answer – the stars were shining hard enough to see the tears accumulating in her eyes without any problem. Effiong, thank God, seemed to notice it.

Adam shifted awkwardly, still looking at the sky. He made no sound. Eric, who looked at him hopefully, sighed heavily and also looked at the sky.

“We're here to destroy some things.” Finally, the answer was given. Maeve unintentionally lowered her head gently and raised her eyebrow, smiling slightly. When a tear came out of her eye, she nervously grated it. Her reputation for these two must have fallen now, but she had to at least pretend.

She looked up again. A few days ago she was in the same place, only a few hours earlier, and together with other girls, she was doing what they were supposed to do today. She was wondering if it was just one such jump in their performance or if it was already a kind of routine – after all, Adam and Eric behaved quite... normally, for what happened to them last year.

“I see.” She whispered, thus fighting for herself an unbreakable tone of voice. “That helps sometimes.”

Eric and Adam nodded sluggishly. There was silence again.

All you could hear was the sound of trees and Eric's fingers tapping on the car. Maeve lay down on her back, bent one leg in her knee and put one hand under her head, making it clear that she was not going anywhere. Adam looked at her for the first time that evening and, to her surprise, he also lay down, in a similar position.

Looking at the stars, she remembered why she was here a few days ago. She remembered Aimee who was pretending that everything was fine, then her screaming in the library and almost a panic attack. Her heart hurt involuntarily when a picture of a crying blonde stood in front of her eyes. 

How it was possible to be such a psychopath? How could a person wanked on any human being, just like that? Especially on someone like Aimee? She didn't deserve it, she didn't deserve any evil in this _fucking_ world that Maeve hated so much.

If only she could, she'd be standing in Gibbs' place that day. She clenched her fists and closed her eyes, opening them immediately afterwards and wiping off more tears with her other hand. Her breathing still hasn't normalised, and she realized that Eric wanted to help her and that he was more than curious about what put her in this state. But at the same time, she knew that Eric could be a responsible friend from time to time and respect that she decided not to say anything about it. That's why she liked him. Besides, he could be funny sometimes.

“And what’s up with _you?_ ” Effiong asked quietly, tapping his fingers even more nervously on the car. Somehow it didn't even bother her, although in a normal situation she would have threatened him with breaking his arm long ago. But today was not a normal day.

She swallowed her saliva and stuck her absent gaze into the stars. In that night they were really beautiful. It's been a long time since she's seen anything like it.

Maeve turned her head to the side, this time looking at the junkyard and the forest. There was no living soul anywhere, and the garbage and vehicles seemed to take different, terrible forms. If she hadn't been used to seeing this for a kid, she'd be afraid to be here.

_“I will never forgive you! Never!”_

Hearing these words, she clenched her fists again and shed tears from her cheeks. Fucking drugs. Fucking Erin. 

“I'm resting.” She mumbled.

Eric moved, and Adam did the same. She was sure they wouldn't believe her, fucking hell, she wouldn't believe herself. Her voice was broken and weak, she avoided any visual contact with them at all costs, and probably her whole face and hair looked as if she had just got out of bed after a weeping night.

But should she be honest with them at all? It was Eric – Otis's best friend, with whom her contacts suffered greatly and about whom she did not even want to hear. And Adam. Yeah, what the hell was Adam doing here? She hasn't talked to him much since she and Otis helped him through three Viagras. Fuck, Otis. Did he have to be everywhere?

She shook her head. 

She could be honest with herself, and not even always. She could have been honest with Aimee, which did not change the fact that she was terribly _ashamed_ , to be honest with her. She had a dysfunctional family, now she even destroyed it herself, she probably had something wrong with her head, her views were different, her behaviour was repellent. Aimee never paid attention to any of these things, she was always with her. But why? She kept asking herself that question.

She didn't know how much time passed in silence, but at one point the sky became a little brighter. She had no idea why these two lost their time with her. She destroyed the whole night to next two people. _Congrats Maeve._

Eric's phone alarm went on. The brunette moved, frightened by the sudden sound, but looking at Adam she could see that he was used to the sound. She swallowed her saliva, feeling how fucking tired she was, but how fucking afraid to sleep. She was afraid to see her mother or sister in her dreams. Or Aimee, who suddenly takes it out that she should give her mother another chance and that she destroyed her family at her own request.

“I have to go,” Eric whispered, slowly rising from the roof of the bus. Maeve sat down, just like Adam, and looked at him. The black man smiled gently, although his eyes were full of uncertainty and sadness. “Lately, mom get up early. You'll be all right, Maeve.” He nodded and then looked at Adam.

She watched them look at each other intensely for a few seconds. She had the strange feeling that their eyes were... full of feelings. These good feelings, which Eric has not even given recently to Rajesh.

She frowned. On reflection, Maeve didn’t think his name was Rajesh anymore. Rahim? Yeah, it was more likely Rahim.

Anyway, Eric left, trying to get off the bus roof for a dozen or so seconds. Adam and Maeve were left alone and she had to admit that she had not felt so awkward with other people for a long time, as she felt with Adam now. 

Adam wasn't a talkative man. Maeve wasn't really talkative either, although it depended on the recipient, because if it was Aimee, Maeve was suddenly able to find many positives in an emotional conversation she could join and even start. Although she probably preferred to hear Aimee talk about something anyway, she could listen to her for hours.

“You're not going to go to school.” She was surprised to hear the quiet voice of the man. She swallowed her saliva and shrugged her shoulders, nervously rubbing her eyes.

“I don't think so. I couldn't focus on any lesson.” He nodded.

“You haven't slept all night. You should go home, take a nap.”

A shiver went down her back. She sensed how suddenly her eyes were flooded with tears again and her hands started shaking involuntarily. Home. A place where every possible step was taken to find something belonging to Erin and her sister. Although social workers took a lot of toys, it did not change the fact that there were still far too many of them in this place.

“No.” She answered harshly and unpleasantly, which made Adam move. She quickly clenched her fists and rubbed her face again. _Fantastic Maeve, finally somebody talks to you of their own free will and you growl at them._ “I don't think I can go in there now.” She said more calmly. 

Adam looked at her and looked at her long enough to finally made her turn her head towards him. The blue, sad eyes seemed to overexpose her. They were so damn similar to her mother's eyes.

_“I will never forgive you! Never!”_

At that very moment, sobbing escaped her lips. Maeve grabbed her hair and turned her head, trying to stop crying anyway. She couldn't, she still had her own mother in front of her eyes, a mother who hated her.

It took a minute or two for her to almost choke on her crying. She tried to imagine that Aimee was somewhere with her and hugged her – although in reality there has never been a situation where Aimee would have to hug her so that she could calm down. Maeve carefully hid her feelings, sometimes better and sometimes worse, but it was never as bad as now.

It's just... It's just that there was too much of it. 

She jumped up when she felt a big hand on her shoulder. She looked scared at Adam – a person who just next to her had one of the worst reputations in the whole school, even though he didn't go to it anymore. Groff looked at her with compassion and understanding. She couldn't think how damn strange or surprising it was, because just a few seconds later, she was stuck in his grip.

She stopped breathing for a moment. Adam Groff hugged her, stroke her on the back and rocked her to the sides. Adam Groff.

But then she remembered all of Erin's things, her successive lies, her incursion into her life and how she decided to throw her out of it. And she started crying again, even harder than before, because now she had someone. She had someone who understood her and who let her cry at six in the morning on the roof of a bus somewhere in the middle of a junkyard.

She clung herself to his body, approaching to him and embracing him with her trembling hands, pouring tears into his chest. Groff didn't say anything, he just swayed her gently and scratched her back, letting her throw everything out. 

She sat there thinking about the whole day, shaking and crying for another half hour. Adam did not comment on her behaviour not once, and when she moved away gently, completely confused, he let her go without hesitation. 

Maeve looked down on her hand.

“Sorry about that.” She finally whispered. Adam almost immediately shook his head.

“There's nothing to apologize for. Everyone sometimes needs a moment of vulnerability.” He said, but his eyesight was also pointed down. “You know… I'm having problems at home too.”

Maeve nodded her head in silence, moving to a safe distance. She clenched her fists and stretched her fingers, biting her lip, which caused blood to flow out of her several hours' wound again. 

She didn't know what was wrong with Adam. He never seemed helpful, he was rather... wild, unpleasant, mean and secretive. But on the other hand, Maeve was also rather unpleasant, mean and secretive, and she was able to show her good, unknown side – for example to Aimee, or t her sister.

A sister who was taken away by the social services. Because of _her._

She wiped her face nervously.

“What's u-up with you and Eric?” She asked in a shaking voice, trying to direct her attention to something else. 

Adam moved, but then he sighed and leaned forward. “Today... Actually, yesterday, at the show, we were... uh... we are kinda together now.” He mumbled quickly.

Maeve raised her head, being sincerely surprised. She wrinkled her forehead and stared at Groff's face for a while, but it was like a piece of concrete. She nodded her head. 

Maybe this subject wasn't a very good choice. 

“Congrats.” She whispered bewildered. Eric and Adam? There was supposedly a thin line between hate and love – but she never believed in this shit. 

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You look rather awfully, you can barely stop crying and you just spent the night in the junkyard.” He said hesitantly, glancing at her.

Maeve didn't realize how insecure and delicate Adam could be. She unintentionally moved a little further away, feeling as if he was violating her personal space – even if he was only doing it in words. 

It was Aimee who knew most of the details of her life, although she was terribly ashamed of them. t was Aimee who should comfort her now, but she was afraid that if she had texted her in the night or, worse, had called her, it would have strained their acquaintance. And she knew it was stupid, after all, Aimee would never do something like Otis (she couldn't even remember if they ever had a real fight). But Maeve destroyed most of the relations in her life, and the relation with Aimee was the most valuable, and she cared about it in every possible way.

She swallowed her saliva, wiped her eyes and looked, hoping that the look was hard, on the understanding, sad eyes of Adam, who was already staring at her. He seemed so damn willing to help, that she had to look away. Did she just deal with the real Adam Groff? The one Eric is probably dealing with, though it's still very strange?

Recognizing that the news about the new relationship between Adam and Eric, which had spread its wings when she was probably saying goodbye to her little sister, was quite intimate and the Groff didn’t have to share it with her, she sighed.

“I fucked up. As usual.” The second sentence, she said more to herself, but the blond seemed to catch it. 

“I've been going with Eric here for a while.” He admitted. “We've never met you.”

“I fucked up _more_ than usual. This time I decided to destroy my family.”

Her hands started shaking again. She didn't know how it happened that she hadn't dehydrated yet, but tears appeared in her eyes _again_. She sighed, closing her eyes in the first rays of sunshine over the junkyard. 

She was so fucking tired. She had enough of everything.

But she thought it would be good to admit to him, to herself, to what she did. She was afraid that Aimee would look at her crooked, which was totally stupid because Maeve subconsciously knew that Aimee would be very compassionate, but not too much as not to scare her. That Aimee will offer her to come to her house, where she will be able to read in peace, where in the evening they will be able to watch a movie that they will comment loudly and then maybe even try to bake something that will either end up in a shameful defeat or a war on food.

Because with Aimee, Maeve became a bit different. She became a bit more of herself.

“I-I literally made my mother hate me. Like, really hate me.” She whispered, her voice trembling almost as hard as her hands. It seemed to her that she had never heard such a terrible noise in her life before.

“I thought your mom...”

“She's back.” She nervously nodded her head and woven both hands into her hair. “She came back, she tried, I even had a little sister.” She spoke quickly, without order or composition. “But then it started-Issac found something, she took _it_ again, she was on drugs again. I threatened that if she did it again, it would be over.” Her voice became almost squeaky when tears began to flow over her face again. She tucked her legs under her chin and tugged her hair in desperation.

_“I will never forgive you! Never!”_

“I told social workers about her. I sent social services on my mother. And she really tried, today we won the fucking quiz championship, she took me to the gallery, it was great, you know? And then-and then we went home and the social workers were there, and I-I...”

Her voice broke and instead of any words, a sharp weep came out of her mouth. She didn't even pay attention to the fact that Adam is softly, gently, insecurely embracing her shoulders. She destroyed her family for good! There was no rescue for them anymore, the sister will hate her when she finds out that she sent her to social services, her mother will never speak to her again, and Sean? Where the fuck was he? Was he going to come back this time?

“You did a good thing.” She heard right by her ear. She almost immediately got out of his hands and looked at his damn calm face. Maeve could only imagine how tragic she looked now – blurry makeup, hair scattered all over the world, red, puffy eyes, a cracked lip, face wet with tears, a grimace of fury. 

“And what the fuck do _you_ know!?”

Adam looked down. 

“You realized that your sister could be in danger. She could've ended up like…um…” He looked at her insecurely.

And then Maeve felt like a speeding car had hit her. A cold shiver went down her back, and her heart stopped, stabbing painfully. 

“Me. She could have ended up like me.” She said quietly. Adam moved uncomfortably.

Maeve didn't really like her life, it was rather normal for her now. She just wanted peace, home. She didn't even think she was going to be with someone in the future – Mrs. Sands knew that, although she definitely expected more from her. Aimee knew that too, although she didn't even have to tell her that. And Aimee, like Mrs. Sands, condemned Maeve's course of thought.

Elsie didn't deserve the life she had. Elsie was too cute, too innocent. She was a fucking child. She should get to someone who can give her a safe, normal life. Maeve had always wanted it, she was sure Elsie wanted it too, although maybe she wasn't aware of it yet. Every child should have a normal start in life. No drugs, no theft, no sleeping in car wrecks, no escaping with siblings from a stoned mother who was in no mood.

Maeve nodded her head, combed her hair and swallowed her saliva, turning back to the sun rising above the town.

“But she will never forgive me. My mother.”

“Maybe she won't forgive you. But maybe she'll understand that you did it for your sister's sake. She should understand.”

Maeve felt a little awkward, but that feeling quickly passed when she focused on the beautiful view. Adam seemed to be as calm as before, but a little more satisfied – and if she was to be honest, she felt a little lighter now too. She still felt like shit. But a little smaller shit.

“And you? Shouldn't you be coming home?”

“My mom's leaving early, she won't notice I'm gone. Father sleeps at school, but everyone knows that.” He snorted. “I got fired. I have no obligations.”

Maeve bit her lip again and, _again_ , she felt blood in her mouth. Even so, she gently approached to the blond to let him know that she understood him a little. Wiley was afraid to turn out to be a little more affectionate, maybe because it was Adam for God’s sake, or maybe because she's already humiliated herself in front of a lot of people and she's had enough of it.

“They're still looking for someone to take my place at the pretzel booth.” She said quietly. Adam smiled a little bit, which made her face also a delicate smile. The smiling Adam looked more accessible than his usual form. 

“The pretzel booth is the worst job. I heard that there's a guy out there, constantly asking for chocolate on the cracknel until you can't see the pretzel itself.”

Maeve laughed, reminding herself of the old man, who used to torment her at the least every other day. She hated that guy. She still.

“Yeah, I had to deal with him.”

Maeve yawned hard, rubbing her eyes, this time not because of tears. She was really damn tired, she only dreamed about her bed, but she knew that as soon as she entered her room, she would be surrounded by some toys or objects belonging to her mother. She had to clean the whole house before she decided to do anything else with it.

“You should go to sleep.” She heard. She looked at Adam, who also seemed sleepy. 

“You too, you know?” 

Adam lay down on the roof of the bus again, a gentle smile came on his face. Maeve looked again at the junkyard, which now stood in the sunshine, and sighed, lying down right next to him.

She closed her eyes and started to listen to the first birds singing, denying herself the thought of her mother, sister, or house she would have to return to anyway. She felt like she was asleep when suddenly her cell phone started ringing.

Adam muttered something, covering his eyes from the sun. Maeve made practically the same move at the same time, jerking her other hand over her pockets, finally taking out the phone.

She couldn't stop a broad smile when she saw Aimee on the display. 

“Hello? Honey? I just noticed a message from Eric that he sent at a totally immoral time that something is wrong with you. Maeve? What happened, babes?”

Maeve swallowed her saliva, smiling a little wider when she heard her friend's voice. She stretched out on the roof of the bus and turned her head towards Adam, who was looking at her. His eyesight was strange. It seemed like he was thinking about something hard, looking at her face with focus. There was a smile on his face. He knew something. But what?

“Hi Aimes, it's better now, don't worry about me.” She muttered perfectly aware that she wasn't that good. Apparently, Aimee also figured it out by her trembling voice. 

“Yeah, me and not worrying about you!” She snorted so loudly and with such outrage that even Adam laughed. “I'm on my way to you. I'm not gonna leave you alone like a finger with a problem that Eric, _Eric for God's sake_ , text me at six o'clock, _six o'clock for the love of God!_ "

“I'm not completely alone.” She admitted it with a smile. Adam seemed embarrassed, turned his head to the side, again covering his eyes from the sun.

“Well, I don't care.” 

“I'm in the junkyard.” She said quietly. She heard Aimee make a surprised sound, which she smiled at again. “Aimes, go to school, I'm gonna go to sleep anyway. I don't want you to fail a lesson just because-”

“Eric, babe! _Eric_ text me! I don't even know where he got my fucking number from! I'm going to the junkyard.” She interrupted her. “End of story. I'll find you two. Whoever the other person is.”

And she hung up, not giving her a chance to answer. Maeve sighed hard, looking at the phone display for a while. Seven-thirty.

“It's good to have someone like Aimee in life.” Adam said, looking curiously at her face again.

Maeve did not look at him, but nodded eagerly, with a silly smile on her face – as if the whole situation of yesterday and today did not take place. She rubbed with her thumb a place where a moment ago it had displayed her joint photo with Gibbs, which the blonde took after long insistence, and which Wiley was not somehow able to remove.

“Yeah. It feels great.” She whispered, turning her head towards him. “But it's also good to have a friend like you, Adam.” She took a risk.

And it paid off. Adam looked at her with a little surprise, but then he smiled quite widely and grabbed her hand. Maeve got tense at first but quickly relaxed her muscles.

Maybe her life wasn't that fucked up. Not considering, of course, that she called Adam a friend.

She managed to write a quick message to Aimee with one hand. 

**We're lying on the roof of a bus near the car we were destroying together.**

**I'm on my way, babe. Sleep well.**

Maeve put the phone in her pocket with a huge smile stuck to her face. Aimee was definitely the best thing that ever happened to her. 

Less than a few minutes later, both of them were already asleep, warming up in the sunshine.

**Author's Note:**

> On Twitter my name is **hibernacja** , if anyone wants to talk about this series, really, write to me!


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